Villagers slam extension of GDA outreach

HARIPUR: The residents of different villages of the upper Khanpur area have vowed to protect their rights from the platform of Makniyal Tahafuz Movement (MTM), which they formed as reaction to extending the administrative outreach of Galiyat Development Authority Abbottabad to Makhniyal area of Khanpur Tehsil.

Speaking to the media persons here on Tuesday, former nazim of Barkot village council Waheed Qureshi said that handing over only three union councils of Makhniyal and surrounding areas, out of seven specifically under the administrative control of Galiyat Development Authority, was incomprehensible and indicative of conspiracy to pressurize the landowners to sale out their ancestors land to the mafia enjoying the backing of some government functionaries. Outreach

He said that the Forest Department had also joined hands with GDA in harassing the residents on one or the other pretext to add to the miseries of the small landowners.

Malik Amjad Mehmood general secretary MTM condemned the imposition of section 144 of the CrPc by DC Haripur on the sale transaction of their land in four patwar halqas of Makhniyal area and demanded lifting the ban.

Present on this occasion, Col (Retd) Ahmad Yar Jang Durani, another landowner from the area, said that the selection of only three union councils of Makhniyal area for giving under the control of GDA was at the behest of elite class of Islamabad that was hell bent on purchasing the land from the small landowners through coercive means.